…and we want to make sure you get to hear about it first. So check this page regularly for all sorts of news and titbits, as we continue on our journey to build something truly remarkable.

AVATR was selected for a 3-minute pitch to a panel of several representatives from the UK’s top angel investment groups (including SyndicateRoom, Nesta, Seedrs, Microsoft Accelerator, Angel Investment Network, AngelCoFund, Startup Funding Club and many more). Our pitch successfully topped 50 other startup applications and was awarded the opportunity to exhibit AVATR’s AI technology and strategy in front of the Angel Investing Hacker Panel. The competition formed part of the Business Funding Show’s Annual Investment Conference, which was held in London on the 13th of November 2018.

Aymeric Teulon and Peter Sahota were pleased today to host the investment and development delegation from the China (Fujian) Foreign Trade Center at our new Geovation office in Clerkenwell, central London.

We had the pleasure to welcome General Manager of Investment and Development, Zeng Zhiyun, and discuss the challenges around elderly care in the Fuzhou region. We also discussed how AVATR could help as a platform as they develop a new state-of-the-art residential development for elderly citizens.

Aymeric Teulon, Director of Inavya Ventures Ltd, has been invited by the UK Department for International Trade to join a small group of UK companies on a technology mission to Singapore. The mission started on 22nd Oct, and is taking place at PwC Offices Marina One in Singapore, which includes facilitated ASEAN market business development opportunities led by PwC.

Aymeric is meeting representatives from a range of insurance companies, telecoms companies, hospitals and investors from throughout the ASEAN market, all of whom have expressed a strong interest to explore collaboration with AVATR. During the visit, Aymeric will also be advancing discussions to establish a Singapore company, which will serve as the ASEAN hub for AVATR medical services.

AVATR has been selected to join The Nordic Angel Program, starting Oct 2018 in Oslo. As part of the EU’s €80-billion initiative “Horizon 2020”, The Nordic Angel Program (NAP) enables cross-border startup and scale-up investment to support high-potential companies that are ambitious and need wings to expand internationally.

In the past, startups/scaleups in the United States have had access to larger pools due to many factors, including a larger, borderless economy. Europe’s “Horizon 2020” initiative is working to close that gap by enabling better cross-border investment collaboration.

The Nordic Angel Program specifically addresses those challenges on a scale that is rarely achieved by national initiatives in Europe. Together with Finland (FiBAN), Estland (EstBAN), Denmark (DanBAN), BAN Norway and NordicBAN we pool international resources together to give the best ideas a much larger funding base than normally possible. To put it simply:

Inavya scientist, Dr Peter Sahota, has been selected by the UK Science and Innovation Network and InnovateUK to join a group of 15 on its UK Future Cities Mission to China in November 2018.

During the visit, Dr Sahota will be joining officials from 100% Open, the China-Britain Business Council, and Future Cities Catapult on visits to pioneering future cities projects in China’s Greater Bay Area, centred around Shenzhen. The city is a global technology hub for internet start-ups - including Tencent and Huawei - and rivals Tokyo, San Francisco and New York.

Dr Michael Wilkinson, CEO of Inavya, says “This UK mission offers Inavya an excellent opportunity to advance its commercial strategy to enter the China market by leveraging the entrepreneurial spirit of Shenzhen. Peter is a Mandarin speaker with significant expertise in AI and business culture. While on the mission, he will continue to deepen Inavya’s engagement with Tsinghua University and corporates in China.”

Future Cities Catapult (FCC) has launched its UK Future Cities Business Portfolio for China, AVATR is profiled as 1 of 38 UK advanced urban services companies that are looking to build partnerships with China. In publishing this portfolio, FCC aims to help UK companies not only apply their urban innovations to cities in the UK, but also gain greater access to opportunities in high growth overseas markets.

China has more than twice as many people living in cities as any other country, and a strong drive to leverage technology to tackle urban challenges. This makes it an important partner country for FCC’s international work.

FCC say, "The portfolio was formally launched at The Fourth China Smart City International Expo 2018 in Shenzhen by our CEO Nicola Yates, in a ceremony observed by the UK’s Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for International Trade Graham Stuart MP. As part of the activity around the launch we have been working in partnership with the UK Science and Innovation Network to lead a mission to China with six of the companies that feature in the portfolio, engaging with Chinese business and government leaders along the way."

From the workplace to the smart home, and how we communicate and organise our cities. Across the world, technology is changing lives, and wherever you look — and whichever sector you look at — you’ll find innovative UK tech companies leading the way.

The UK is one of the world’s great technology ecosystems. It is home to thousands of dynamic, high quality and innovative companies – from the most exciting new start-ups to global brands with with centuries of history.

This year at World Cities Summit from 8-12 July in Singapore, the UK government has selected nine of the UK’s most innovative companies and organisations - including Inavya - each offering diverse solutions for the smart cities of today and tomorrow. Avatr technology will be profiled as part of Inavya’s future city work in Singapore and São Paulo. With design for healthy city living seen as increasingly important, our designers and UX specialists Christopher da Costa and John Walters will be on-hand to share their experience with participants from over 125 regions globally.

AVATR has been selected for the final auditions round of the K-Startup Grand Challenge 2018, having been selected by independent judges as one of the most promising European startups.

Aymeric Teulon, Director of Inavya Ventures, will be at Station F on the 11th July to pitch AVATR. If selected in this round, Inavya will participate in a 3-month Korean accelerator programme, sponsored by the Korean Government.

K-Startup Grand Challenge is a project conducted and financed by the Korean government. Ultimate objectives of the K-Startup Grand Challenge are to promote the expansion of an open entrepreneurship ecosystem in Asia and to assist in South Korea’s evolution into a prominent startup business hub in the region. Selected startups get invited to the Startup Campus in Pangyo Techno Valley, Seoul, South Korea from August to December 2018.

Inavya Ventures was recently selected among 10 other top London startups to participate at the TechInvest pitching event (11 June at Rise London).

The Mayor of London’s TechInvest Programme is part of a series of similar events supported by City Hall, in partnership with UK Business Angels Association. This London-based series is aimed at showcasing the Capital as a global hub for tech innovation, by inviting London’s most ground-breaking tech entrepreneurs to pitch their businesses to leading investors in the industry.

The 3rd event in this year's programme was dedicated to showcasing London’s top 10 ‘Smart City’ tech innovators - a ‘Smarter London’ combines data and technology for the positive growth of the city. It mobilises the power of data as the fuel for innovation to design and develop safe, open and inclusive solutions for Londoners over the next decade and beyond.

Inavya Ventures has been selected to showcase AVATR at the International Business Festival on the sector-themed day: Health & Life Sciences. It will take place 26 June in Liverpool, and on the Future Stage.

It’s an extraordinary business showcase event. Eight high-calibre businesses, will seek transformative scale-up investment, by pitching their innovative, new business ideas to a distinguished panel of representatives from UK Business Angels Association.

This is one of the largest Business Angel Investor events in the UK, and represents a fantastic opportunity for AVATR to showcase its technology to potential future partners and investors.

Sinovation: Deep dive into some of the best and most evolutionary Chinese innovations.

Technology and Entrepreneurship - the Power Shift: How China’s entrepreneurship ecosystem is playing a catch-up with its Western counterparts

Historically, the China Business Forum has been known to attract high-profile thought leaders from business, academia and politics, to address changing dynamics within the UK-China relationship. This year, the event will see the participation of key decision makers and business influencers such as:

Qin Zhu - Minister and Deputy Head of Mission of the Chinese Embassy in the UK

Ning Tang - Founder and CEO of CreditEase, the first fintech company IPO from China in the global capital markets (NYSE listed).

The forum is committed to offering its participants opportunities to explore the latest business trends, share innovative business ideas, discuss potential business opportunities and network with world business leaders. Naturally, this is a tremendous opportunity for Inavya Ventures to develop its international reach and exposure.

Over the past 2 weeks Dr Michael Wilkinson concluded a series of trade missions to the APAC region, sponsored by the Department of international Trade (DIT) and Innovate UK.

The Singapore Health Tech Mission and Futures Cities Mission to Australia was a extraordinary opportunity to showcase AVATR to a panel of government officials, corporate representatives, potential investors and business platforms in the region. It also attracted significant media coverage, including an article in Forbes Magazine and a notable mention in The Enquirer.

Meanwhile, in China, Dr Jaspal Peter Sahota attended the 1st Global Expert Summit (GCES) in Ningbo, as well as the Shaanxi British Technology Industry Project Promotion Conference in Xi'an. Here, AVATR attracted extensive coverage in the local media, including a piece in the Sina News.

Following the conference, key local incubators and corporates liaised with Dr. Sahota, paving the way for significant partnerships and collaborations in the future.

In London this week, Aymeric Teulon was invited by the China British Business Council (CBBC) to present AVATR to a delegation from the Guiyang Hi-tech Committee. The committee is the main organising body for the Guiyang Big Data Expo, which will take place between 26th – 29th May. The Guiyang Big Data Expo is China’s main national level event for the big data industry, attracting 20,000 visitors from over 60 countries. Large company delegations from the UK attended the Expo in both 2016 and 2017, and CBBC/DIT is planning to organise a delegation for this year’s event in May.

This kind of exposure confirms a massive interest in our user-centric, device-agnostic AI and machine learning technology - especially when it puts the user squarely at the centre of their own digital world.

But this is just the start…

Inavya Ventures will continue to leverage coverage like this, with the hope to strengthen and accelerate any future partnerships within the region

Dr Jaspal Peter Sahota has been invited by the State Administration of Foreign Experts Affairs of China to join the 1st China Global Experts Summit (CGES).

The invitation-only list of global experts includes scientists and representatives from national academies of sciences, world-leading international technological organisations and research institutions in Europe, America, Japan, Central and Middle Europe. It also includes senior representatives from Global 500 companies and leading VC institutions.

The aim of CGES is to strengthen international cooperation on technology, talent, capital and industry, and to share the development opportunity in China. As Inavya continues to develop its international reach, China represents a key market opportunity for its AVATR technology.

The Capital Accelerate & Scale Tech Superstars Programme - which focuses on London-based technology SMEs, with an offering for the healthcare sector - has selected Inavya to join a trade mission to Singapore in March 2018. The Mission is supported by the Department for International Trade (DIT), London Region.

THE OPPORTUNITY

Healthcare spending is increasing strongly in Singapore as the population ages and continues to grow. Already at S$10bn annually (approximately £5.5bn), this is forecast to grow by a further S$3bn (approximately £1.6n) by 2020.

Singapore is a leading digital market with high levels of Internet use. Singaporeans are increasingly open to making use of healthcare technology, and the government is actively encouraging this sector to drive quality and efficiency improvements through its Smart Nation Initiative. Singapore is also second in the rankings of easiest places to do business with and has the world’s 4th highest GDP per head of population.

The Mission will include In-market briefings, a hospital site-visit , and pitching events to buyers, companies and investors.

Inavya has been selected by the Knowledge Transfer Network to join an Investment Readiness Group to accelerate growth. The UK-based SME companies is this group are all developing cutting-edge AI and Robotics technologies. The series of investment readiness training and networking activities is delivered by leading experts in innovation financing.

The timing for these capacity-building activities aligns very well with Inavya’s development plans, which is targeting precision medicine initially, with a focus on lifestyle-related conditions. By 2020, 50% of global health care expenditures - about $4 trillion - will be spent on lifestyle conditions such as heart disease, stroke and diabetes. With global population of over 65 years old projected to increase by 8% by 2020, market demand will increase. Inavya intends to capture at least 0.25% ($10 million annual) of this large and growing global market.

Inavya is currently preparing for commercial deployment in Singapore, in collaboration with clinicians at the National Heart Centre. With direct access to clinicians and paying patients in up 43 countries, Inavya is currently hardening our technology and market offer in preparation for global scale-up.

Dr Michael Wilkinson is an invited speaker at this year's Winter Union event on the 13th December 2017 in London. The Theme for the event is: Will Superhumans Compete of Collaborate with Machines?

The Winter Union brings together leading innovators and speakers from a range of large and small companies, and from creative and technical disciplines, to explore how best humans and machines can co-exist peacefully and productively and what we need to do to create our future superhumanity. During the event, Dr Wilkinson will present the Avatr medical initiative in Singapore, and the Newton Fund health promotion initiative in Brazil.

Inavya has been selected by the Department of International Trade to join an InnovateUK Future Cities Mission to Australia in March 2018. Within this programme, the UK delegation of technology companies will learn about Australian market opportunities and business culture, develop a tailored pitch and then travel to Australia to meet prospective partners, investors and customers as well as visit local pioneering future cities projects. Market interest in Avatr is exceptionally strong, especially in the future cities and healthcare sectors; and these opportunities will be developed during the mission.

Innovate UK’s mission partners are the Department of International Trade (DIT), the Future Cities Catapult, the Knowledge Transfer Network and open innovation experts, 100% Open.

Dr Michael Wilkinson has been invited to present the 'CityZen' project at a meeting that Future Cities Catapult (which is co-organising the UN-sponsored Smart Cities 4 All initiative - G3ICT and World Enabled) on the 7th November. The goal of the meeting will be to provide an overview of the guidance standards they have launched for ICT accessibility and inclusion.

The meeting will be an opportunity to exchange knowledge on different work around inclusivity and accessibility in smart cities; Future Cities Catapult and the UK are bringing together key people working in this space. The CityZen project is a Newton Fund R&D collaboration, which brings together organisations from the UK (Inavya, FCC & Space Syntax) and Brazil (CpQD, Industrial-I, Albert Einstein Hospital, City of Sao Paulo).

About the Smart Cities for All initiative

G3ict and World Enabled launched the Smart Cities for All initiative to define the state of ICT accessibility in Smart Cities worldwide. Its focus is to eliminate the digital divide for persons with disabilities and older persons in Smart Cities around the world. The initiative is partnering with leading organizations and companies to create and deploy the tools and strategies needed to build more inclusive Smart Cities.

Inavya Ventures Ltd has won a major Brazil-UK R&D competition to develop AVATR health and medtech capability to meet market demand in Brazil and globally. Inavya is the UK lead, in partnership with Future Cities Catapult and Space Syntax Ltd. Industrial-I is the Brazil lead, in partnership with the Brazil ICT research agency CPQD. The Cities of Sao Paulo and Campinas City will serve as demonstrator sites. The project, called CityZen, is planned to start in the Autumn 2017 and run for two years.

About the Newton Fund

The Ministry of Industry, Foreign Trade and Services and Innovate UK are running a call for proposals for collaborative research and development projects between British and Brazilian companies focusing on innovative, connected cities and renewable energy solutions.

Similar to the UK, today in Brazil 85% of people live in cities. This has created a wealth of opportunities for those moving to urban centres, yet also it has accelerated the development of unique challenges for the future development of cities in Brazil. Challenges such as improving energy, waste and water efficiency, developing infrastructure to meet current and future energy and service demands by residents (and visitors), while also promoting economic participation and harnessing education and skills within and around cities. Both the Brazilian and British governments are aiming to support projects developing the use of cutting-edge solutions to tackle critical issues for the future of urban environments.